


In the Pines

by Windybird



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: ...and Jane, ...and Kenny, F/F, F/M, In which Clementine is a very sad cinnamon roll, M/M, Multi, OCs - Freeform, Older AJ, Older Clementine, Protective Clementine is the best Clementine, and pretty much everyone is a ghost watching over her, basically everyone is v protective of each other okay, that goes for Lee as well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-28 11:30:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6327214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windybird/pseuds/Windybird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clementine sees dead people on a daily basis. But none of them are who she wants to see.<br/>(Or, in which Clementine struggles to keep AJ and herself alive, the ghosts of former companions are watching over her, and the search for Christa reigns on.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

Clementine saw dead people on a daily basis. She saw them more than she’d ever care to, walking, groaning, shells of a body. She saw dead men with rotting skulls and corpses of women staring soullessly into nothingness. Eyes that were blind, mouths that could only destroy whenever they parted against each other.

 

She saw every dead person in the world except for the one she wanted to see.

 

 

* * *

 

Lee was dead.

 

At least, he was what came after the bullet lodged in his brain. One second, he was in Savannah watching a bullet hit between his eyes, and the next he was watching Clementine hiding in a toilet stall as a woman shifted through her backpack.

 It was hard- it was so hard, being with her. Originally he thought he’d never want to leave Clementine, not in a million years, and while that still was true, he also wanted to close his eyes and never open them to see this world again.

 He didn’t think he was a Walker- he was too aware, too absorbed in his mind to be, and he definitely wasn’t a ghost. He couldn’t walk through concrete walls or anything like that. But he couldn’t move anything, either. He was simply there and not there, at the same time. He didn’t exist, at least not physically, but when he looked down his feet were still there, solid on the pine-scattered ground of the woods.

 When the others started to join him, he couldn’t say he was really surprised.

 First was Omid. Lee nearly cried when he saw him, but he managed to rein back his tears long enough to give him a huge bear hug. Omid was elated to see his friend again… not so much when he learned about their condition, but he came around soon enough when he saw his wife again, poking at a fire with sticks and a grumbly expression.

 Sam, Lee thought, didn’t really have intense emotions, but he whimpered like hell when he saw his dead body still attached to the spikes that ultimately killed him. The two of them (the two humans, that is) bowed their heads when Clementine slit the dog’s throat in a mercy killing. Omid, Lee thought, was just happy to see a dog again.

 Pete was a swell guy, real sweet on Clementine, so Lee was welcoming when he joined their group. He was understandably upset when he opened his eyes to see a lack of pearly gates and two men and their dog in its place, but shut up about it when he saw Nick’s reaction to his demise.

 Then there was Matthew. A young Asian man, apparently came from a prison bus he miraculously escaped by sawing off a chain still attached to a man’s leg before he met his friend Walter. He was confused when he woke up to see Lee staring down at him, but was surprisingly accepting when the older man told him where he was. What he was.

 Then came Walter. Just as nice as Matt, but a bit more gruff when he learned that he was apparently stuck on the Earth, watching a frightened little girl go through horrors that she should’ve never had to experience.

Reggie came next, who developed a close relationship with Omid that made it seem like they’d known each other for years; Alvin followed soon after, a giant of a man whose only concern rested with his wife and unborn child. Carlos was wracked with nervousness when he saw Sarah flitter through the woods like a frenzied bat, tears streaming down her cheeks as Luke ran after her.

 Sarita sobbed when she realized where she was; Nick was elated to see his uncle again; Sarah screamed when she saw her dead father standing in front of her, very much alive as he wrapped his arms around her shuddering frame. It made Lee’s chest ache for something long-lost, something that died when Clementine was abducted by that godamn stranger, when he got bit by that Walker.

Rebecca’s arrival made them all horrified when Clementine shot her in the skull to protect A.J., but she was silent throughout it all, deadened eyes focused on her baby the entire time. The only thing she said was to her husband: “You were wrong; it wasn’t a girl.”

 When Luke woke up, he was engulfed in the arms of his former groupmates, laughing and cheering as he stood up steadily on both of his legs. Jane, Lee thought, had the worst trauma out of them all, but when Kenny arrived he wasn’t sure who looked sadder as they watched Clementine through unblinking, unfocused eyes.

 None of them knew why they were there. The only knowledge they possessed about their ‘situation’ was that they could never leave Clementine; they were dragged like an invisible hook was tied to their pants if they tried moving more than a few yards away from her. As if burdened by their presence- which was impossible, but still-, Clementine’s shoulders sagged like those of a middle-aged banker’s who’d just found out his wife had been cheating on him (“Not the best comparison, Omid,” Lee chided) as she escaped the hoard, blood still red on her face.

 When she found the group, she was still painted in the crimson guts of walkers. Her hand trembled as she lifted the gun to an unfamiliar face, frowning grimly at her from where the owner of said face stood, crossing her arms over a blood-splattered shirt.

 “Who are you, then?” The owner of the grim, weathered face asked in a hostile manner. He wore a flannel shirt that was stained with walker intestines and a scowling expression that visibly frightened the girl. Clementine straightened up in an attempt to look taller. Lee tensed and instinctively reached for a gun that wasn't there anymore as the man approached.

 “I’m Clementine,” Clementine said, lowering the gun slowly. “I don’t want any trouble. I just want to know if you have some food for my… brother, A.J. He hasn’t eaten anything in days.”

 “And by extension, you want me to give up some of my canned peaches to you.” The man stated bluntly. Clementine trembled, and his face softened a bit.

 They were standing in the middle of the forest, pines crackling beneath their shuffling feet as they awkwardly appraised one another from a short distance. The man had set up a small camp nearby, where a little boy and a girl not much older than Clementine crouched, trying to start a campfire with small sticks and stones that stubbornly refused to light no matter how much they tried.

 "I can help you with that, if you want," Clementine gestured towards the campfire- or, rather, the lack of. The man looked over his shoulder with a vaguely surprised expression on his face, like he'd just noticed that it was there. He watched his children- they had to be his children, there was no mistaking the flaming red hair on top of the pale faces- struggle with their sticks for several seconds before turning back to the girl, sighing in defeat.

 "That'd be mighty kind of you," He said, eyes losing their hardness as he looked up and down her hunger-panged frame. "I might just have a can of peaches around here somewhere after all."

“Thank you,” Clementine said breathlessly, bowing her head. She carefully balanced A.J. on a wide log the other kids were using as a bench and set to work on the campfire, rubbing the sticks carefully together. The other children watched with guarded eyes as the logs lit up brilliantly in the night sky, smoke emitting from the red and orange flames that danced on the wood. Clementine smiled triumphantly and stood up to admire her handiwork.

“Nice job,” the man whistled lowly and threw her a can of peaches, following a small bag of peanuts. “Name’s Vic, by the way. These are my kids, Kiara and Aidan.”

Clementine looked up at the children, who had been watching her with the same gray eyes she saw on their father. They both had striking red hair, although the girl’s was long and smooth while the boy’s laid in a curly tangle on his head, framing a babyish face that couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years old. The girl seemed somewhat older than Clementine, maybe two or three years older, and had a sharper, more angular face that scowled down at the younger girl as she all but began to scarf down her meal, feeding A.J. the soft fruit with her bare hands.

“That’s disgusting,” Kiara said, digging into her backpack. She brought out a plastic spoon and handed it over to Clementine grudgingly. “Here. Feed your brother with this.”

“Thanks.” Clementine said earnestly. Kiara looked away pointedly and began to have a discussion with her brother that the group didn’t really follow, instead opting to listen to Vic’s low baritone rumble across his small camp as he explained his predicament to Clementine.

“Sorry I don’t have baby formula or anything with me.” He began, smiling wryly. “Adrian’s a bit too old for that now, and milk is sure as hell outta the equation. We don’t exactly have a dairy farm on our hands, as you might be able to tell.”

Clementine winced. Vic looked at her curiously but went on.

“We’ve been walking for months now, searching for a camp that’ll let us in,” he informed Clementine as she ate, looking up at him periodically to assure him she was listening. “Either we have ten weeks worth of bad luck or all the camps in the state are full. I’ve been trying to ask fellow survivors for directions to camps they may know of nearby, but it’s been quite some time since I encountered anybody knew. The last time we met a survivor he was working for a bandit bivouac nearby that nearly had us killed.”

Vic sighed wearily and looked up into the night sky. Sarah made a sympathetic noise and leaned against her father, watching the man with a sorrowful expression on her face. “Poor Vic.”

Evidently Clementine thought the same thing, too. She managed to tear herself away from her meal to look at him with serious, level eyes. “I’ve been looking for my friend Christa for a bit. I think there’s a good chance that she’s in one of the camps… did you maybe see a tall woman inside any of the camps? She’s black, tall, wears a bun?"

Vic laughed without humor. “Honey, there’s more than 1,000 people in each of the camps I’ve visited. Too many of them that might look like your friend, might resemble a family member or somebody you used to know before. Your best bet, I say, is to find a camp to settle down in and push any thoughts of finding Christa away. Your safety is more important than the whereabouts of someone that may or may not be alive.”

Clementine’s brow furrowed and she stared hard at Vic. “I’m not leaving her behind, not again. She’s my one hope for survival now. She’s the only one I can trust.”

“Not a very healthy attitude, Clementine,” Vic chided and poked at the flames. Jane scowled at his back, muttering her distrust of the man under her breath.

“I left her, before.” Clementine looked into the flames, eyes cast downward. “She was in danger. I managed to create a distraction so she could run but now I don’t even know if she’s safe or not. If I endangered her even more or not. She’s like family to me, I have to find her.”

Vic looked like he wanted to lay a hand on Clementine’s shoulder and give her a hug. Instead, he asked, “How old are you, kid?”

“I’m eleven. I’m going to be twelve soon. And A.J. here is only a few months old.” She looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Can you help me?”

Vic leaned back and gave out a harsh laugh. “Wish I could, kiddo. But I have problems of my own. Don’t think I can help you much.”

Clementine readjusted her grip on A.J. so that he was pressed tight against her chest. Looking down at him, she didn’t notice the anguished expression on her older companion’s face as he stared across the campfire at Kiara and Aidan. Aidan’s head lolled in the crook of his sister’s neck, who had an arm around him and seemed to be dozing off as her brother fell asleep on her lap.

Vic turned to Clementine suddenly, his eyes wide. “Clementine, I’m going to ask you a favor. And you can refuse if you want, but… hear me out first. Please.”

Clementine’s yellow eyes focused warily on him. “Is it bad?”

Vic laughed again, voice devoid of all humor. “You can say that.”

He leaned away from the girl and slowly pulled the sleeve of his flannel up, revealing a large purplish cut that looked all too familiar on his olive skin. Lee gripped his arm suddenly and pulled his sleeve up as well, revealing the matching bite wound that never faded from his experience with the walker outside the mansion. Sarah gave out a little gasp and stared at Vic and Clementine with big eyes. “Is that a bite mark, Lee?”

Lee stared at the man grimly. "I think it just might be."

 

* * *

 

 

Clementine stared at Vic for a very long time without saying anything. The yellow orbs darted down to his arm, then to his face, then to his arm again, before finally settling on the flames that were beginning to die on the logs.

Vic watched her face very closely. “You know, I debated whether or not I should cut it off. But hell, living in the zombie apocalypse without an arm is good as jumping off a bridge. It’s already hard for me to find food and shelter for the kids, it’ll be neigh impossible as an amputee.”

The silence that followed after that was overbearing.

“I know.” Clementine finally said, choosing her words carefully. “Two of my friends got bit. They both had their bites cut off, but it didn’t help them. They both died. It probably wouldn’t have worked even if you cut it right after you got bit.”

Vic made a sympathetic noise and leaned over to place a hand on her shoulder. “That’s awful, Clementine. I’m sorry you had to go through with that.”

Clementine blinked a few times, eyes oddly bright. “You’re a good person, Vic. I’m sorry you have to go through this now.”

Vic leaned backwards and stared at the night sky. Lee looked up too, and to his surprise thousands of stars littered the night sky, like miniscule holes in a velvet-black blanket. The moon was yellow, like the crisp pages of old books. It was the first time in a long while that he took time to admire the night sky.

“The only thing I’m worried about is my kids,” Vic muttered in a low voice, tearing his gaze away from the sky to look at Kiara and Aidan’s sleeping forms. They were nestled close to one another, Kiara’s arms hanging loosely on her brother’s frame with an almost mirror-like resemblance to Clementine and A.J.’s sleeping positions. Clementine looked unbearably sad as she turned to Vic.

“They don’t know how to survive by themselves, not like you do,” He continued. “Kiara likes to act like she knows the wilderness like the back of her hand, but she grew up in the most suburban neighborhood in Chicago. She and Aidan would die without me there to protect them. And look… I don’t know what kinda crap you’ve been through, Clem. But you have the look of a survivor. You’ve been sharp enough to keep you and A.J. alive for quite some now, at least. I wouldn’t ask this of anyone- especially not an 11-year-old with a little baby brother to take care of-, but I need to know my kids will be safe after I’m gone.”

He took a breath and looked at Clementine pointedly. She looked back at him with steady eyes.

“What would you have me do?” She asked. Vic’s face broke out into a grin.

“I knew I can count on you, Clementine.”

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

In the end, they made a deal.

Clementine would get Kiara and Aidan to Wellington using a nearby trail leading south of Vic's camp that spanned across a hundred miles of pure Michigan wilderness, until finally stopping near Columbus and straight into the large camp. They planned the route out in the dirt with sticks, careful not to awaken Kiara or Aidan as they discussed in hushed voices what to do once they hit Wellington.

"I reckon you can find a place there," Vic muttered quietly, "try and find your friend and meanwhile stock up on food and weapons. Even if she isn't there, you need to make a plan before you go looking for her again. And you can watch out for my kids in the meantime, make sure they don't get into trouble. Kiara especially," he added, glancing at the snoring red-haired girl sitting across the campfire. He turned to Clementine with an apologetic expression on.

"I shouldn't have to ask you to do this, but like I said, they can't survive without someone to help them."

"Don't mean you get to ask a little girl with a baby to walk a hundred miles in the freezing winter, asshole," Kenny grumbled. Jane gave him an irritated look which he pointedly ignored as he glared down at an oblivious Vic. Lee crossed his arms against his chest and sighed. He hated to admit it, but Kenny was right. Vic's plan put all of them in danger. And besides, what kind of man asked a young girl to venture across a frozen wasteland just to help a couple of strangers she barely knew?

 _A desperate one,_ a small voice in the back of his head said sternly. _One who would do anything it takes to protect his kids. Sound familiar?_

"It's wrong to leave them behind," Luke protested. "Clem's doing the right thing by helping them out. And it's too late to take it back now. Besides, what're you going to do about it? Say, 'hey, Clementine, your plan is stupid and you should listen to me because I'm the ghost of your old friend'?"

Kenny straightened his back and mustered the most withering glare he had at the man.

"It's okay, Vic," Clementine's voice snapped them all out of the argument. "I understand. I'll get them to Wellington, don't worry."

Vic gave the eleven-year-old a grateful smile before starting to walk down a weather-beaten path that steadily went downhill as it progressed. Clementine followed him, looking concerned. Their long trek ended at a small lake covered in snow and ice, trees bearing the weight of pounds of snow on branches looking ready to snap at any given moment.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to Kiara and Aidan?" She asked, brow furrowing as they walked past a gnarled old tree branch sitting alongside the trail. Vic shook his head mutely, turning to Clementine with a look of regret as he slumped against the trunk of a particularly large willow tree.

"I don't want them to see me like this," he said, gesturing to his thinning body. Already his skin was beginning to turn waxy gray. Walker gray. Clementine shivered, although Lee suspected it wasn't from the cold. "Not grey, old, and dying. I want their memories of me to be happy. I don't want their last memory of me to be their pop shooting his brains out of his skull."

Someone in the group sniffled loudly. Lee turned to see Nick, of all people, crying openly as Vic slid down the trunk of the tree, holding his gun with trembling hands as he lifted it to his head. He didn't look away from Clementine. He smiled shakily at her and said, "Bury my body, will you?"

The gunshot, Lee thought, was quite possibly the loudest thing he ever heard.

* * *

Clementine walked back to the now dwindling campfire, wiping her bleeding hands on her jacket as she tried to get the last of the snow out of her fingernails. Watching her dig into the snow until her bloody knuckles stained it red was a painful sight to see, and watching her struggle to fit Vic into the small hole she'd managed to create in little over an hour and a half was even worse. Nick's face was positively ashy when she finished, and Pete gave him a concerned look as they walked back to Kiara and Aidan.

"Is he okay, Pete?" Lee asked quietly as they marched through the snow.

"He's had his fair share of people being turned unexpectedly," Pete answered evasively.

"We all have," Lee said in a low voice. Nick made a small, sad sound in the back of his throat and walked quicker, so that he was walking alongside Clementine as they finally arrived at camp. Kiara was awake, eyes big and wary as she watched Clementine approach. Aidan's head lolled on her lap, red hair dotted with fresh snow.

"Where've you been?" Kiara demanded. Clementine grabbed hard at A.J. and stared at the older girl with a guilty expression.

"I- Vic's gone," she whispered hoarsely in response. Kiara's eyes widened.

"What do you mean, _gone_?" She said, sounding somewhat panicky. Aidan stirred in her lap. "When's he coming back?"

"He isn't coming back, Kiara," Clementine said, voice marginally stronger than before. "He's... he's been bit."

Kiara stood up, letting Aidan's head bang against the thick tree trunk they were using as a bench as she approached Clementine with a murderous gleam in her eyes. Jane and Kenny both yelled in protest as the ginger grabbed Clementine's jacket, Lee rising to his feet feeling dangerously angry as she backed the younger girl into a tree.

"What happened?" She breathed, clutching onto Clementine's collar so that their faces were mere inches apart. A.J. cried as his face was smushed into Kiara's dirty coat, but the ginger refused to let go. Her breath hit the side of Clementine's face as she squirmed helplessly. Aidan yawned and got up from his seat, mumbling something incoherent under his breath as he approached the girls with a worried expression.

"He wanted me to bring you to Wellington after he died so that you'd be safe," Clementine explained in a rush. "He didn't want his last day with you to be sad, so he kept it a secret until now. I'm so sorry, Kiara."

The girl let go of Clementine and reeled backwards, looking as though she'd been hit. Aidan gripped at his sister's coat and asked what happened, but it seemed like she wasn't going to be able to talk anytime soon as she sank down on the ground, clutching her head with both hands. He looked up at Clementine nervously.

"What's going on? Where's our dad?" he asked, looking like a frightened puppy. Clementine looked like she was about to burst into tears at any given moment.

"You'd better sit down, Aidan," she said instead, after a long pause. "It's a long story."

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

At first, Kiara was adamant that Clementine leave immediately.

Furious at not being told of her father's condition before it was too late and he "blasted his freaking brains out", as she put it, brokenhearted at the loss of the only parent she ever had, she took her frustration out on the eleven-year-old and shouted abuse until Kenny tried to lob a large hunk of wood at her head (unsuccessfully, of course). Clementine didn't say anything on her part. On several occasions she looked as though she was going to defend herself against Kiara's insults and rage-fuelled glares, but guilt seemed to win her over and for the most part she stayed silent while the older girl probably drew every walker in a five-mile radius to their dying campfire.

Aidan was handling it better than Kiara, but not by much. He refused to look at Clementine, instead opting to sit on the stump of a tree and hug his knees to his chest, sobs escaping from his chapped lips as he watched his sister with tear-filled eyes. Clementine looked equal parts guilty and angry, but she waited for Kiara to tire herself out before trying to speak.

"Kiara, listen." She pleaded, avoiding the ginger's piercing grey eyes as they focused on her. "I know what you're going through, but screaming at me isn't going to help anybody. I'm sorry about Vic, but it isn't my fault he died."

"No," Kiara snapped, her tone biting and hurtful. "But it is your fault I couldn't say goodbye to him. Who gave you the _right-"_

She stopped herself, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down.

"You think because you're a little girl, you can do these kinds of things without consequences? You might not've killed Dad, but you did something worse. You prevented me from saying goodbye. You prevented my _brother_ from saying goodbye. You let us think we would see Dad in the morning. Instead, we woke up as orphans. And you didn't even _tell_ us."

A.J. started to cry. Clementine cradled him gently to her chest and looked at Kiara with a remorseful expression.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry that you couldn't say goodbye to your dad. But you're not the only one who lost somebody close to them, and acting like you are is selfish. People die every _day,_ Kiara. And I wish Vic didn't, but he did, and he didn't want you to remember him that way- slowly turning into a walker. He wanted you to remember him as he was, and he wanted you to be brave. He wanted you to focus on the things that really matter, like Aidan. The best thing you can do for him now is honor his memory and keep on going."

Kiara burst into tears and sat on the ground, rocking herself back and forth in the dirt. Jane's eyes narrowed.

"Just like Jamie," she muttered under her breath. Lee didn't bother to ask who Jamie was.

Clementine placed A.J. on the log- "Careful, Clementine!" Rebecca admonished, but was ignored as usual- and sat down next to Kiara. Putting her hand on Kiara's back seemed to soothe her, just a bit, so she continued to pat it until Kiara finally sniffled and stood shakily to her feet. Aidan looked up from the ground to see her walking towards him, her tear-stained face hardened with determination.

"Come on, Aidan," she said, voice low and rough. "Clementine... Clementine's right. We need to keep going. I think we just alerted every walker in the area of our location. Let's beat it."

As she spoke, walker growls already rose in the air. The unmistakable sound of leaves crunching under feet made all of them tense up, and Clementine grabbed Kiara's arm.

"We need to go," she said urgently. Kiara gave a slight nod and took Aidan's hand into her own. Clementine picked up A.J. and started walking south of the woods. Soon enough, they lost the walkers, and the only sound to be heard was their own breathing, sharp and loud in the now quiet atmosphere of the forest. The other group followed closely behind, walking behind Clementine and the redheads so that they could be on lookout for surprise walkers, not that they would be able to do much about it even if they found them. Still, it gave them a job to do while the three children walked in nervous silence for several hours.

"Where are we _going,_ Clementine?" Kiara finally asked, exasperated. "I swear we've walked past that tree ten times already."

"Didn't take her long to snap out of her mood." Nick remarked snarkily as he trudged alongside the girl.

"And into an even worse one." Pete agreed. Walt let out a sharp, prolonged sigh and walked quicker, looking as though he would like nothing more than to run as fast as his legs could carry him. Lee didn't blame him. Everyone's rigid stances and suspicious, wary glances at the slightest movement was beginning to get out real quick. The atmosphere was so tense Lee could probably could through it with a butter knife.

"I don't _know_ , Kiara," Clementine responded, equally irritated by the seemingly hopeless situation. They were lost in the woods, with no way of knowing whether they were getting any closer out of it. "If anyone has a map, now would be a good time to use it."

Aidan piped up for the first time in what seemed like years. "I have one."

"You do?" Kiara asked, surprised. Clementine gave him a small smile as he rummaged through his backpack and handed her a well-worn map of the town they were supposedly situated in. Her big yellow eyes scanned over it, brows furrowing in obvious confusion. Kiara rolled her eyes and grabbed the map from Clementine's small hands.

"Hey!" She protested, but Kiara was already walking ahead, talking fast.

"So apparently if we walk south for a few miles more we'll get to a path that'll take us out of here and straight into the border between Michigan and Ohio. Once we get there Wellington is going to be located near Columbus, if what Dad said was true. Then you can drop us off and we'll never have to see you again." She said, almost aggressively cheerful. Clementine winced and crossed her arms defensively- or, at least, as best as she could with a baby tucked gently near her chest. Aidan gave Kiara an angry look which she pointedly ignored as she walked ahead of them, nearly out of sight as Clementine and Aidan tried to catch up with her.

"She's so mean!" Sarah whispered, looking scandalized at the girl's rude behavior. _Clearly she never had to deal with the likes of Lily or Larry,_ Lee mused, but said nothing as they hurried after the group.

* * *

"We're lost," Aidan said.

"No, we're not." Kiara snapped.

"Yes, we are."

" _No,_ we aren't."

" _Yes-"_

"Will you both be quiet?" Clementine demanded. "Look, we're almost at the lake."

She pointed into the distance. Indeed, a small lake sat a few yards away, surrounded almost entirely by trees the size of skyscrapers. They'd would've probably walked past it if Clementine hadn't said anything, it was hidden so carefully. They began to sprint quickly towards the lake, until at last they were so close they could see the fish swimming in its clear blue water.

As if on cue, all three stomachs rumbled in sync as they gazed at the trout swimming in the lake's depths. Kiara and Clementine shared a look as the latter edged closer to the edge of the lake, handing Kiara A.J. as she put her hands out before her, looking ready to catch some dinner. Spotting a grey fish coming closer to the water's shore, Clementine slammed her hands into the water and felt the trout wriggle in her hands. She instinctively let go, seemingly disgusted with its scaly body.

"You let it go!" Aidan said. Kiara gave her one of her famous death glares.

"After all you've been through, you're disgusted by how fish feel?" She asked incredulously. Clementine's face went light pink, and she took the baby back from her in response. Despite the circumstances, Lee felt a smile creep across his face. No matter how much she went through, Clementine was still a kid at heart. The thought warmed him up, and he watched in amusement as the trio tried their hand at fish-catching.

Clementine turned out to be the quickest of them all, but she almost always let the fish wriggle away in her hands. Kiara was clearly the worst of the three, almost offensively slow as she sluggishly clamped her hands down on any movement she felt moving past her fingertips. Not surprisingly, Aidan was the one to catch most of the fish, although Clementine did manage to grab a big bluish-grey one without letting it go. In total, they managed to nab three fish, one for each of them.

Kiara felt that they'd wasted enough time with the fish-catching (although Lee suspected embarrassment was also a leading factor in her attempts to get her brother and Clementine to move on- but it seemed foolish to let the fish rot in the hot sun while they walked for hours in the heat, so Clementine made a fire instead and they began to cook their trout.

"Our rations are running low," Kiara said while they impatiently waited for the fish to be thoroughly cooked. "It's a good thing we managed to find the lake- otherwise, we'd have eaten through all the food we had by now."

Aidan looked up at her miserably. "What are we going to do when we have to leave the lake tomorrow? We don't know when we're going to run into another place with food like this."

"There's got to be something," Clementine reassured him, though looking nervous herself. "When we get out of the woods we'll find a store somewhere and get food there."

"Are you always this optimistic?" Kiara muttered, looking annoyed. Aidan shushed her, but Clementine looked up at her with level eyes.

"I try to be," she said seriously. Their gazes met until Kiara broke the eye contact, looking at the fish instead.

"I hope this stupid thing'll be cooked before we all die of starvation," she grumbled. Aidan smiled a little at her discomfort but didn't say anything as he licked his lips hungrily, watching the trout slowly brown and cook. Kenny let out a long sigh.

"One thing I'm glad about is that we don't have to deal with all that anymore," he said, though he looked rather hungry as he watched the kids dig into their meal. Sarita smiled indulgently at him.

"I miss cooking, though," she said quietly. "There was nothing better that baking an entire chicken for the family to enjoy."

"That isn't exactly chicken, though," Jane commented, but quickly shut up when Kenny gave her a silencing glare.

"I wish I could've tasted it," he said quickly. "It probably would've been delicious."

Sarita looked up at him lovingly and patted his hand while Jane mimed sticking her finger in her throat. Luke laughed until Kenny swatted him with his hat.

"Be quiet!" Rebecca suddenly shushed them. They quieted down, looking at her curiously.

"Don't you hear that?" She asked, sounding panicked. Listening closely, the sound of walkers came closer and closer until a small herd could be seen from a distance. Lee hurriedly looked back at Clementine, Kiara, and Aidan, but they all seemed too preoccupied with their meal to pay close attention to their surroundings. Kenny groaned and put his head in his hands.

"Lee, they're going to get eaten if we don't do something!" He whisper-shouted, sounding full of dread.

Thinking quickly, Lee focused on a stick sitting at his feet. Very rarely, at times of danger, he could manipulate objects to move and shake. This useful tidbit was found out at the beginning of his time as a "ghost", when Clementine had been bitten by Sam and sat dazed while walkers began to walk closer to her half-conscious body. In a moment of panic, Lee looked around for anything that could help her while Omid panicked helpfully nearby.

When his gaze landed on a particularly big rock, he felt his skin prickle with goosebumps and a sort of hum went off in his ears. The rock wobbily hovered off the ground and bashed in the head of a walker edging towards Clementine. That was right before Luke and Pete found Clementine and began to carry her to safety.

Now, he looked at the stick and knew it was his time to act. The stick flew off the ground and hit Kiara on the back.

"Ow!" She said, sounding surprised as she turned around to pick up the stick. Clementine looked at her concernedly.

"Are you okay?"

"Someone threw a stick at me," Kiara said, eyes scanning the forest for any sign of the stick-thrower. What she found instead made her rise to her feet and grab her gun. Clementine and Aidan looked behind too, to find the walker herd gaining on them quickly. They dropped their fish onto the ground, grabbed their weapons, and retreated backwards into the woods before they finally stumbled onto a trail that had to be the one that would lead them to the state border.

"Come on," Clementine said anxiously, "let's get out of here before they catch up to us."

"Agreed," Aidan replied, wearing a frightened expression, and the three made their way onto the trail and away from the danger.

"Good job, Lee," Omid whistled lowly. "That was a close call."

Matthew peered closely into Lee's face. "You have _got_ to teach me how to do that."

"Maybe some other time," Lee smiled. He'd actually helped Clementine for the first time since his death. The feeling of accomplishment that seeped into him warmed him up like he had been the one sitting at the campfire instead of Kiara and Aidan. As they began to walk alongside the trio, Lee gently put his hand on Clementine's hat.

Clementine looked up at shivered. "It's getting cold."

Lee grinned at her so widely his face hurt.

 

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

In the end, Kiara and Aidan waited outside the store with A.J. while Clementine snuck in to find supplies.

 Finding the town had been a near miracle, considering the fact that they got even more lost on the trail after they discovered more walkers honing in from the south and had to take shelter in a cave for the next few days. When the herd finally passed, they were tired, hungry to the point of starving, and were in desperate need of a bath. It took them hours to find the trail again, and when they did, it was too dark to try to follow it, so they had to camp out in the middle of it with nothing but a weak fire for warmth.

 Kenny's anxious pacing didn't help the situation much, either.

 "Will you stop that?" Jane snapped at him. "You're making me nervous."

 Kenny stopped momentarily to glare at her. "Sorry to hear that, princess. Tell me how calm you'll be when the herd finds Clem and kills her friends in their sleep."

 It didn't happen, of course. A few hours later and the three were on their way once more. Jane looked so smug Kenny threatened to poke her smirk off with a stick, Luke instantly jumped to her rescue, Lee and Sarita somehow managed to calm Kenny down, and by the time Jane and Kenny stopped glaring at each other Clementine, Kiara, and Aidan had already made it to town and found a boarded-up grocery store that Clementine managed to sneak inside to find more supplies and food to keep them going for the next week or two.

 Nobody liked the plan, but Aidan was too scared to go inside, and Kiara was too big to squeeze through the small gap that Clementine barely managed to get past through the front door. She put A.J. in their care and, gripping at her backpack like it was a lifeline, tiptoed through the grocery store in search of canned foods to stuff inside her bag. Lee looked around with the others, but it seemed like all of the food had been taken by hungry survivors a long while ago. There was nothing left except for maybe a few rotten Oreos sitting on the top shelf of the sweets area.

 Clementine had been there for maybe a minute and a half when she spotted the walker.

 A large, beefy man, he looked as though he had been recently turned. Cookie crumbs still stuck to his limp beard, and as he shuffled towards Clementine she could make out large ketchup stains- at least, she hoped it was ketchup- splattered onto his face and T-shirt. Thinking fast, Clementine raced towards the toy section and found a small, plastic pink Hello Kitty bat that she bashed his head in with before he could get to her. He dropped onto the ground and Clementine stepped past him, face splattered with blood.

She put the bat over her shoulder like she was about to hit a pitch and cautiously walked to the back of the store, still breathing hard from her little run-in. Looking despondent as she unsuccessfully tried to reach the can of beans sitting on a high shelf in the farthest right section of the store, Lee did a little cheating on his own part and knocked the can off the shelf with a little mind power. Clementine grabbed it before it could hit the floor and splatter everywhere, looking both confused and grateful.

After finding a small bag of dried banana chips on the ground, she was about to go back to the gap when she suddenly heard unfamiliar voices coming from it. Crouching behind an upturned shelf, Clementine watched large black boots pace around the ground a few inches outside the store. The owner of said shoes was talking loudly and rather angrily.

"I know you have a group around somewhere, girlie," a male voice hissed. "Where are they?"

"It's just me and my brothers," Kiara's voice responded. "Nobody else."

Clementine heard the man slap her across the face. She tensed, gripping the baseball bat hard as she slowly inched her way towards the exit. Lee and the others went ahead as far as they could, trying to scope out the situation. Two men appeared in front of the entrance, flanked by a dozen muscular men and women, armed with particularly deadly-looking guns as they surrounded Kiara, Aidan, and A.J., all who were looking pale and frightened as they sat huddled together on the ground.

"Don't lie to me, _bitch,"_ one of the two men snarled viciously. "Where is your group?"

"Here," Clementine said from behind the gap, and smacked the back of his knees with her baseball bat. And at that moment, everyone leaped into action.

Kiara sprang up to her feet and grabbed the gun of a growling woman running towards her. In one smooth motion she smashed the gun against her cheek, and the woman slumped to the ground like dead weight. Aidan grabbed A.J. and ran to Clementine's side, hiding behind her as she took out the second of the two guards by smacking both of his feet with her bat and kicking him in the stomach. Glancing quickly at each other, the three of them raced for a small gap in the flank when they were stopped by a scarred woman with straggly black hair and dark brown eyes.

"Nice try, kids," she said in a low voice. "But nobody trespasses onto our territory and gets past the President's army."

Clementine took a step forward so that her body was shielding Kiara, Aidan, and A.J. behind her. Sometime in the scuffle that had broken out she had gotten her bat kicked out of her hands, so she had no weapons to defend herself against the woman, who was a great deal taller than her. Beside Lee, Sarah was biting her fingernails as they watched Clementine attempt to talk the woman into letting them go.

"My name is Clementine," Clementine said in a quiet, calm voice. "This is Kiara, Aidan, and my brother A.J. We don't want any trouble. We're just on our way to Wellington; we didn't mean to intrude on your 'territory'. If you let us go, we won't bother you again."

"Damn right you won't," The woman snorted. Clementine looked up at her with silently pleading eyes, and she softened a bit. "Look, kid. We can't let you go, not when you've got a baby with you. Do you know the last time any of us has seen a baby? Or, better yet, how much the President desires a heir to take over Sherrinford?"

A murmur of agreement passed along the flank. The woman crouched down so that she was at eye-level with the eleven-year-old, who returned her gaze steadily. "I don't want to hurt you, Clementine. But I'll have to if your 'group' is going to resist any more." Her voice hardened. "You don't want your friends to get their skulls smashed by my men, do you?"

Two of them stepped forward, cracking their knuckles menacingly. Clementine looked back at Kiara and Aidan, whose faces were white as snow as they huddled together. Her gaze landed on a crying A.J., his little face scrunched up as tears rolled down his dirty face. She looked back at the woman and glared at her, taking another step forward so that they were so close, her eyelashes made shadows onto the woman's cheek.

"Nobody's making you hurt my friends," Clementine told her. "If your President is ordering you to beat up children, why are you even following them in the first place? Wellington's only a few miles away- you could come with us, you could-"

"No, I can't." The woman cut her off. "Wellington's a camp for complacent, smug little assholes who think they can survive the apocalypse with weak weapons and weak wills. At least the President doesn't coddle us and give us false hope where there's none. She keeps things straight and honest at Sherrinford, and that's more than I can ever say for Wellington. And besides, Delilah Everett really isn't that bad when you get to know her."

Lee felt his knees buckle. "Delilah...?"

"Everett?" Clementine asked, frowning. "But that's-"

"Shh, Clementine." The woman hushed her as she turned away. "It's a long ride to Sherrinford. We need to get a move on."

"But-"

The guards grabbed Clementine, Kiara, and Aidan as they began to march forward, back into the woods. Lee's face was devoid of any color as he looked down at his hands in thinly veiled shock. Kenny grabbed his arm concernedly.

"Lee? You alright there?" He asked worriedly. Lee looked up at him with wide eyes.

"They're taking them to my wife," he managed to choke out before they were pulled into the woods alongside Clementine.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Truthfully, Lee, there was no way your wife wasn't going to turn out to be a dictator who abducts kids. I mean, if somebody could cheat on him without a second's remorse, you know they're either heartless or robots. Or both.

**Author's Note:**

> Whew, that was a lot of drama for the first chapter. As you can tell, I'm continuing the tradition of putting our cinnamon roll of an eleven-year-old into awful situations, which will most likely get much worse over time. If it helps, I feel extremely guilty for it. ...Although that's probably not going to stop me from continuing to torture everyone. Sorry, Clem!


End file.
